December 3rd, 2007
Odds & Ends: 12/03/07
Two pieces in the New York Times caught my eye over the weekend, reminding me that I really need to spend more time reading the newspaper…
Feelin’ the Spirit
Samuel G. Freedman has written a nice profile of San Francisco’s St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, which for those who don’t know is a real honest to goodness place for worshipping God, not a gimmick or a bunch of cranks. The idea, as I understand it, is simply that God literally speaks through music, especially music as intense, passionate and devout as Coltrane’s later work, making the saxophonist a bona-fide prophet and saint. Anyway, the article quickly summarizes the church’s history, good works and theology. I must admit that in all the time I’ve lived out here I’ve never paid these guys a visit—it must be my aversion to churches in general. But every time I read an article like this or see film of the place, it makes me want to go.
- “Sunday Religion, Inspired by Saturday Nights” (NYT, Dec 1, 2007)
Bootstrap Economics
Malawi, a rather obscure nation in Southern Africa, is the sort of place that only makes the news in America when there’s a famine or when a celebrity wants to adopt an orphan. But now there’s some good news for a change. The Times’ Celia W. Dugger reports that after a devastating food crisis in 2005, the country has turned itself around and is even feeding its neighbors. They did it by ignoring the “expert” advice of the World Bank, Britain and the United States, who told Malawi to abandon fertlizer subsidies (and with them any chance of self-sufficient farming). Instead, Malawi was pressured to follow a free-trade approach that would have left it perpetually on the knife’s edge. This is a fascinating and inspiring story of a nation rejecting the old, failed models of aid and lifting itself up by deciding “to follow what the West practiced, not what it preached.”
- “Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts” (NYT, Dec 2, 2007)
Happy reading!
November 27th, 2007
J.C. Penney’s 1975: Fur, Guns and Scary Underwear
Continuing our recent obsession with that wasteland of bad taste that was the 1970s, Decca just tipped me off to this great stroll through the J.C. Penney’s catalog, circa 1975, courtesy of Jancee Dunn. Hold on to your hats!
Man, I gotta get me some of that stuff. Especially the “Superfly” clothes…
November 10th, 2007
A Gaggle of Groiners!
If you were a visitor to this web site before the Great Database Disaster of 2007, you know that I have been following the adventures of the Groiner family with great interest. It’s time we checked back in with these leading lights of European jazz…
THE STORY SO FAR:
In the beginning there was Hans Groiner, an Austrian pianist who bore a striking resemblance to jazz keyboardist Larry Goldings in a blond wig. Hans, a gentle soul, was greatly perturbed by the many “mistakes” he heard in the music of Thelonious Monk and had set about correcting them, for the benefit of the jazz-loving public. His notorious YouTube video on the subject sparked a firestorm of controversy, and it was only a matter of time before someone launched a counterattack.
Surprisingly, it was Hans Groiner’s own brother, Jurgen Groiner, who posted a response to Hans and his efforts at musical eugenics. Jurgen—a dead ringer for jazz organist Bruno Micheli except for the fact that they look nothing alike—posted his own video in which he and brother Schpountz Groiner revealed that Hans was the “black sheep” of the family. Jurgen implored Hans to return to the fold, and also provided some sterling examples of how Monk’s music should really be played.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
It turns out that wasn’t the end of the tale. That’s right, more videos have surfaced! In the first one, Jurgen joins forces with brother Jürgen Groiner (note the umlaut) to provide demonstrations of both Good Music and Bad Music. Then just when you think we must surely have run out of Groiners, pianist Elton Groiner and drummer Darwin Groiner show up to provide yet further instruction in Good Music and the proper approach to playing Thelonious Monk’s challenging tunes. There is also a promise (threat?) of a fourth video, featuring the mysterious Giorgio Groiner. Man, If Hans doesn’t get it by now, he never will.
In a world deluged by Bad Music, I’m really glad we have the Groiner family to help us understand the beauty inherent in Monk’s compositions.
Watch ‘em all:
- Hans Groiner Plays Monk [the original!]
- Jurgen Groiner Plays Monk
- Groiner’s Family Plays Monk (Part 2)
- Groiner’s Family Plays Monk (Part 3)
September 15th, 2007
The Rebuild Begins…
The long, slow process of rebuilding this website after the Great Database Disaster of 2007 is underway. I’m starting in the Calendar section—no particular reason, I just gotta start somewhere.
Entries are up for Yoshi’s, Pearl’s, and the SF Jazz Festival… and wow! I don’t think I’d really been paying attention to the festival lineup. SFJAZZ may have outdone themselves this year with a very rich, ambitious program. Go check it out!
One part of the site I was especially sorry to lose was the musician directory. I’ve started putting that back together too, but it’s a scattershot process. Feel free to point out the many omissions: any active Bay Area jazz musician with a reasonably up-to-date web site is welcome.
September 14th, 2007
No Radio Show on Sept 21…
My radio program, “No Cover, No Minimum,” is taking a short break over the next week or two.
I’ll be down in Monterey next Friday (September 21), covering the Monterey Jazz Festival for All About Jazz (my third straight year of coverage for them). As in previous years, watch for blog reports in this space.
The timing is actually pretty convenient from a radio perspective, because KZSU will be in the middle of back-to-back-to-back marathons on that day. The mayhem begins with the “Day of Difficulty,” 24 hours of difficult music as selected by the station’s noise-lovin’ DJs, beginning at noon on Wednesday, Sept 19, and running until the “Day of Noise” takes over on Thursday. The rest of Thursday and Friday morning will feature non-stop live noise performances from KZSU’s basement studios. At noon on Friday the 21st, the format switches to electronica for KZSU’s traditional Equinox dance music marathon. And then, when the station is littered with exhausted DJs and the mingled smells of beer, pot and pizza lay heavily in the air, we will return to our regular programming.
Anyway, I won’t be there, so don’t go looking for my show. I may also take the 28th off if I can find a sub, in which case “No Cover, No Minimum” will return when KZSU’s Fall schedule begins in October. More details to come…
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